 The next item of business is a debate on motion 10497, in the name of Jackie Baillie, on protecting specialist neonatal services in Lanarkshire. I invite any members wishing to participate in the debate to press their request to speak ones. I call on Jackie Baillie to speak to and move the motion up to six minutes. According to the Scottish Government, 23 babies required the use of the neonatal unit at University Hospital Wishaw last year. That's 23 babies born extremely prematurely at less than 27 weeks gestation or who have low birth weight and require intensive care support. At the sick kids in Glasgow there were 27 babies, in Edinburgh there were 33 and in Aberdeen there were 18. The Scottish Government in their wisdom have decided that neonatal services need to be reorganised moving from the existing number of centres down to three and closing the units at Ninewells in Dundee at the Victoria hospital in Fife and at Wishaw. I want to focus my remarks on Wishaw because the unit at Wishaw is an award-winning service in Scotland's third largest health board, serving a significant population of our country. It just makes no sense to close it and it is vehemently opposed by parents and clinicians. Today, I and the Scottish Labour Party add our voices to theirs. The appraisal report on which ministers have taken their decision is seriously flawed. In a devastating briefing to MSPs, the Government's approach is exposed. There was no consideration given to population deprivation factors in the areas served. No consideration given to the lack of transport links for families. No consideration given to the inequality caused. No consideration given to the displacement of families from their community networks that sustain them. No wonder there is a 12,000 strong petition opposing the move started by Lynn McRitchie. Lynn's own son, NS Now Age 4, was born in Wishaw. She is concerned about the level of stress and trauma that having to move extremely premature babies would cause families at a time when they are already extremely vulnerable. The view from clinicians and senior staff members is equally stark. The data on which decisions were taken is incomplete. There was no up-to-date evidence base used. No outcome data will be available as there is no measurement of baseline. How on earth can you tell if the model will work if you do not have that information? The Scottish Government is keen on saying that it listens to experts. It is keen on saying that it is all about evidence-based policymaking, but it is not when it applies to neonatal units, including the one in University hospital Wishaw. If the minister has evidence, then publish it. If she is so sure of her ground, then meet with the clinicians at all the units that you intend to close, meet with the parents too. There is more. NHS Lanarkshire was not represented on the working group at all. The other health boards were. There has been no consultation with stakeholders, no consultation with the staff at the neonatal unit, no consultation with families and there is no sign of a Government consultation after they have made their decision either. As far as I recall, the Scottish Government is supposed to consult on major service changes, or do the rules not apply when it comes to the SNP? Parents will tell you that staff at University hospital Wishaw are highly skilled and well trained. The specialist neonatal team, including consultants, nurses and midwives, allied health professionals such as pharmacists, dieticians and OTs, are all lifesavers. How could you not speak to them? I am completely baffled by the tone deaf approach of the Scottish Government. That has had a profound impact on staff wellbeing. Nursing students seeking a career in Wishaw have pulled out their applications and we know that there will be an impact on maternity services too. I know that the wider question of maternity services is being explored in a later debate led by Megan Gallacher. Colleagues are right to point out the lack of consultant-led maternity services in Elgin, promised by the Scottish Government but with no plan for recruitment or delivery. Let me turn to another aspect of the neonatal decision and that is levels of staffing. Statistics from the national neonatal audit have a very interesting story to tell about the coverage of nursing shifts. Comparing statistics in quarter two of 2023, which are the latest statistics available, in Glasgow, the coverage for nursing shifts in neonatal was 65 per cent. In Edinburgh, the same coverage was 56 per cent. In Wishaw, the coverage was 91 per cent. Yes, that is 91 per cent of shifts covered, consistently the best-performing neonatal unit in terms of staff coverage. What I want to know is why are the Scottish Government closing the unit with good levels of staffing, which we know matters in securing good outcomes for babies? Neonatal staff and nursing staff in the sick kids tell me that they can barely cope with what they are doing just now, with the numbers of sick babies they are having to care for without adding even more sick babies to their care. Jackie Lambert of the Royal College of Midwives said, "...the best interest of the baby and parents must always be the focus of any service changes, but it is essential that these three units have the capacity for all the babies that will need care in accommodation for the mothers." The Scottish Government would do well to heat those words and the views of expert clinicians and nurses and families. The survival of some babies will be put at risk by this decision, and the minister must listen and reverse it. Today, SNP MSPs have a chance to pick what side they are on—the side of families and clinicians or the side of their party bosses. I know whose side I am on. I move the motion in my name. In the 75 years of the NHS, we have never stood still and we have adapted our service to meet the needs of the population. I have had the pleasure to meet a number of parents, families and maternity staff who all have the same aspirations. They all want the best for the babies in their care, and we must act accordingly to support that. The best start outlined that Scotland should move from the current model of eight neonatal intensive care units to a model of three units supported by the continuation of current NICUs, which is redesignated as local neonatal units. The evidence is clear that the chances of survival are better for these highest-risk babies when they are cared for in units by clinicians who see more of those babies and with access to specialist support services. Those born at highest risk are defined as babies who are born at less than 27 weeks' gestation, weigh less than 100 grams or who need multiple complex intensive care interventions or surgery. The process of determining which units should be providing neonatal intensive care followed an options appraisal process—I have a lot to get through, if you do not mind. The process of determining which units should be providing neonatal intensive care followed an options appraisal process, which was undertaken by an expert group, including clinical leads and service user representatives, including in NHS Lanarkshire, the best start perinatal subgroup. As has been raised today by Jackie Baillie, I welcome the opportunity to congratulate Wishaw Generals Neonatal. I am not going to take any interventions. To congratulate Wishaw Generals Neonatal Multidisciplinary team in being named the UK neonatal team of the year in 2023. The work that this unit provides is remarkable, and hearing the words of parents who have written to me confirms the care that they are providing is inspirational. The best start recommended that the new model of neonatal care should be based on the British Association of Perinatal Medicine definitions of level of care. That moves us away from the previous descriptions of units as level 1, 2 and 3 and describes units as neonatal intensive care units, local neonatal units and special care baby units. I would like to reassure everyone that, under the new model, the scope of practice that the local neonatal unit will be able to undertake is wider than the previous level 2 definition. The units will continue to provide a level of intensive care and will be able to care for babies born at greater than 27 weeks gestation. The intention with the new model of care is that mothers in suspected extreme preterm labour are transferred before they give birth to maternity units in the hospitals that have neonatal intensive care units, allowing them to be cared for alongside their baby. It is recognised that it will not always be possible, and in those cases our specialist neonatal transfer service, Scott Star, will transfer those babies in specialist ambulances equipped to care for neonates. That has been established practice for many years. Babies receiving intensive care will then be transferred back to their local neonatal unit for on-going care as soon as possible. The parents and carers of these babies must be supported to help them in providing care alongside the neonatal staff. The new model of care positions parents firmly as partners in their baby's care. It includes expansion of transitional care, improved facilities and support for parents and expanded neonatal community care, allowing babies to get home sooner. In addition, we have already introduced the young patients family fund, formerly the neonatal expenses fund, which continues to help support many parents with costs of having babies in neonatal care. We will now work with all health boards affected to plan for and implement the service change over the course of the next year. However, it is also important that we hear the voices of those families in the affected areas. Therefore, we will also be consulting with families so that we can take account of their concerns when the pathways and processes for the new model of care are designed, and we will be setting up focus groups to support that. I would like to give my personal commitment and that of this Government to continue to listen, learn and act upon evidence to make sure that our NHS delivers safe, effective and person-centred care. I would like to reiterate that this decision has been made on the basis of evidence that this change will improve chances of survival for these very smallest and sickest babies. I am sure that members will agree that parents would very much expect us to act on such evidence in the best interests of their babies. Minister, unusually for this sort of brief debate, we do have a little bit of time in hand, so members who take an intervention should get the time back, but the interventions will need to be brief. With that, I call Sanders Golhany to speak to and move amendment 10497.1. I am in four minutes, Dr Golhany. Thank you. Well, what a cold managerial speech with no empathy for families from the Minister. I would like to declare my register of interests as a practicing NHS GP. We are disillusioned with the Scottish Government stewardship of our NHS, and the indifference that is shown by successive SNP health secretaries to many well-documented calls by local communities to support critical services. Here we are yet again. 12,000 people support Lynn McRitchie's petition to think again and reconsider downgrading university hospital wishaws award-winning neonatal services. The Scottish Government remains unconcerned. Cabinet Secretary, look at the families in the gallery, look them in the eye and tell them the truth. You don't care about their opinion. Currently, Scotland has eight intensive neonatal units. Under the Scottish Government centralisation plan to abandon rural communities, this will reduce to three. Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University hospital, Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary and Aberdeen's maternity hospital. Of course, the SNP has formed when it comes to forcing mothers and babies to travel vast distances for care. In NHS Highlands, women in Caithness and Sutherland have faced round trips of over 200 miles to access obstetrics and gynaecology services in Inverness. Further along the Murray Firth, Dr Grace Hospital in Elgin has not had a consultant-led maternity unit since Shona Robison was health secretary. Over the past five years, the majority of Murray mothers had to face a 90-minute trip east to Aberdeen or an hour's trip west to Inverness. From wishaws to the borders, from Murray to Portree, maternity services across Scotland shouldn't be provided with the resources they need to provide crucial care to newborn babies. Scotland is so much more than its three biggest cities. Over four million people live elsewhere with around a million Scots living in rural and island communities. Services need to be designed, resourced and optimised accordingly. Being wedded to centralisation, apathetic to local needs, won't wash. The Scottish Government has also run roughshod over neonatal patient safety by the way of its May 22 directive to health board, which limits the use of off-framework agency nurses. I understand the need to restrain the use of agency staff and control costs, but at a time when the Scottish Government has made a mess of workforce planning and soaring 6,000 nursing vacancies, the consequences of coming down hard result in unsafe staffing levels. The directive came into force on 1 July, so what's been the impact? Well, as of September 17, an off-framework agency, just one, tells me that, due to new controls, they've been unable to place nurses in over 300 neonatal shifts since 1 July, and managers are openly saying that this understaffing will just have to be accepted and it's on the staff. In total, across general medical and surgical wards, over the same period, it's been unable to fill over 7,500 shifts because of the Scottish Government's directive. Now, we have neonatal intensive care agency nurses being brought up from London to Scotland to cover shifts. We're told that neonatal staffing levels in several regions are dangerously low. We know of a paediatric cardiac consultant whose cases were cancelled because of staff shortages that couldn't be backfilled on the new directive. The SNP, I'm just about to finish, the SNP is clearly heavy handed, disregards the nuanced needs of families causing distress and discontent. There's a lack of empathy and it stamps its authority on patients and staff alike. It's crucial that we pause and listen and I move the amendment in my name. Thank you very much. Dr Gilhane, we now move to the open debate. I call first Mark Griffin to be followed by Keith Brown up to four minutes, Mr Griffin. Thank you, Presiding Officer. My daughter Rosa was born on 1 April 2017 at University Hospital Wishaw. She was born at 27 weeks gestation weighing 535 grams or just £1.3 oes. She came home from the hospital almost exactly five months later, with the vast majority of those five months spent in the neonatal intensive care unit, the Scottish Government plan to downgrade. My daughter's birth was an emergency one. My wife's labour was induced early because she'd developed an acute infection which if left unchecked would have killed them both. We were told that because of our daughter's size and gestation, she'd be very likely to be stillborn or die shortly after birth, but the neonatal team would be on standby to do what they could. We were left hoping and praying for a miracle, but miracles don't happen, miraculous people happen. After birth, the miraculous staff at Wishaw worked to keep her daughter alive and get her into the intensive care unit for the start of a five-month roller-coaster journey of recovery. There couldn't have been a stabilisation in the transfer to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen or maybe even the north of England because she was too sick. What the Government are proposing will mean that Lanarkshire parents of the sickest babies, the ones who need the most support, will be left with a choice of making a journey that they know isn't in the best interests of their baby or leaving them with a skeleton staff who don't have the award-winning knowledge, experience or capacity which exists right now. Shortly after my daughter was born, my wife's health deteriorated. She was hemorrhaging and had to be rushed to emergency surgery. She spent over a week in recovery. She felt incredibly guilty that she couldn't be beside our baby's cot with her daughter, but at least she could be close by word to provide the breast milk, which is so crucial for the survival of premature babies. I know that it would have been far too much for her to cope with, for our baby to be moved to a different hospital before she herself was healthy enough to be discharged. However, it was also the issue that this was not our first child, this was our second child. Sick babies aren't born in isolation. It's all very well for the Government to say that travel accommodation food costs are covered, which is a good thing, but parents had to fight for it. It's absolutely the gallant that that has been used as a shield, a partial shield for this decision. However, you are talking about moving mothers away from their communities, away from their families, away from their children and away from that vital support network. How does a mum get their kids to nursery or school in Lanarkshire and then get to Aberdeen to care for their sick baby? I've told my family's story, but it's far from unique. There are roses being born in Wishaw every other week. I've met them. Their families haven't been listened to. The staff haven't been listened to. The Government should be listening to the team in Wishaw working miracles every single day. We should be supporting the staff to do the award-winning work that they want to do and supporting families to give the baby the best start locally, surrounded and helped by their wider family and community. Keith Brown, to be followed by Monica Lennon up to four minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I first have all pay my respects to the history, as has been described by Mark Griffin in his own experience. I acknowledge that he's the first speaker in his debate that lives in and is a representative for Lanarkshire, which I'm not. However, I want to relate my own experience, which is that I have three children. The first one was born in Simpson's maternity pavilion. When she was born, not that unusually, she wasn't breathing, she was blue, but the very adept and experienced midwife. He quickly remedied a couple of flicks of the toes and a wee bit of oxygen up the nose. The point is that there was no panic because this person had seen this happen so many times in the past. Contrast that with my two sons, who were born elsewhere. The first one was pretty straightforward. The second one, though, was a much smaller hospital, and he was born. His mother hemorrhaged, and there was, I think, real panic on the part of the midwives that were there. They weren't sure what to do. I overheard the conversation about whether she'd get a doctor or not. I don't question their commitment, their compassion or their expertise, but it was simply the case that they hadn't seen this nearly as frequently as others may have done. Also, my son was then released from hospital despite the fact that he had undiagnosed two holes in his heart, which he had to then take him back. He couldn't be seen at that hospital, had to go through to Glasgow for that. The point I'm making is that it left me with the impression that the greater the throughputs of sometimes unusual experiences, the better the expertise, the more specialist expertise. For my part, the second hospital that my two sons were born in was very convenient for me, but I would pass it up in a second for making sure that they had the best possible care and attention. That's what I see—I may be wrong, but that's what I see is underlying these changes. It's crucial to recognise that the neonatal unit at the University Hospital in Wishaw will remain open. No neonatal units are closing as part of these plans. University Hospital Wishaw, Ninewells and Dundee, Princess Royal Maternity in Glasgow, Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and Crosshouse Hospital in Cymarwick will all continue to operate their neonatal units. Of course, it is the case that we are in a period of some transition. In order to maximise the effectiveness of care on offer to our newborns, the Scottish Government has opted to reconfigure the neonatal services on offer, and it's doing so on the basis of expert advice, with a focus on providing the highest level of care in free specialist intensive care. I've only got four minutes—I don't know why these debates are so short, but I don't have much time to speak, so apologies. For babies born at the highest stress will be based in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and those units will be dedicated to the smallest babies facing the most significant health challenges, ensuring that they are born where they can readily access the specialist care and services that they need. Those born before 27 weeks weighing less than 800 grams or requiring complex life support will be supported at these locations. The rationale, as recommended by the best start report, is the belief that focusing care for these higher-ass infants in units with a capacity to treat a high volume of patients will ultimately yield safer outcomes. That's what's at debate here. Some of the things that we've heard already, people are not caring about it. I think that everybody in this debate does care about those things. The ultimate aim, surely, is to make sure that as many children, especially the most vulnerable ones, are born safely. I think that, as parents, that's what we all want to see. I think that we have heard from the minister that those changes are in line with advice from expert clinicians, Leslie Jackson, the clinical lead for the Scottish neonatal network, and Carline Lee-Davies, chief executive of bliss. A charity designed to improve the care and treatment of babies born premature or sick have both voiced their support for this change. They believe that reconfiguring our services can improve the quality of neonatal services in Scotland. I think that the Scottish Government has got an obligation to do exactly that. The objective is to offer increased care to those babies who need it most, while ensuring that they can return to one of the excellent local neonatal units across the country, such as University Hospital Wishaw, which, I stress again, will remain open. To close, the decision to reconfigure neonatal services is based on sound evidence and expert advice, but we must also ensure, as far as we can, that we bring the local community along with us. We have to work collaboratively to deliver this new model of neonatal care effectively for newborns and their families. Mr Brown, it is up to members whether they take an intervention. Those debates usually allow very little time for that, but there is, on this occasion, a little bit of time. If there are brief interventions, you should get the time back. I now call Monica Lennon to be followed by Meghan Gallagher up to four minutes. The Scottish Government amendment rightly congratulates Wishaw on being named UK neonatal team of the year 2023. It is a wonderful achievement that we should all celebrate. However, we are in a ridiculous situation where the Government is praising Wishaw's neonatal unit in one breath and downgrading it in another. It makes sense because for the parents, families and healthcare professionals who know the unit inside out, it is absurd, out of touch and dangerous. The Scottish Government is making a terrible mistake if it allows the neonatal unit at Wishaw to be downgraded. The petition against the plans spearheaded by Lanarkshire mum Lyn McRitchie has already been signed by more than 12,000 people. The widespread community outrage and worry is unsurprising, as Wishaw's neonatal team are like a second family for so many in our communities. I want to thank everyone who signed the petition and pay tribute to Lyn McRitchie who is in the public gallery right now. We are also joined by Angela Tierney from Blantyre, who told me that the neonatal team care for babies, including her son Ollie, like they are their own children with love, compassion and enormous skill. When Angela gave birth to Ollie, she was extremely ill and, like Stephanie Griffin, could not be moved. Ollie received excellent care at Wishaw, but sadly he died. He was only five days old. The memories that Angela, husband Barry and their family were able to make in their community with Ollie will stay with them forever. Under those plans, Ollie would have been transferred from Wishaw, separated from his extremely ill mother, and the Tierney family would have been robbed of precious time with their Ollie. The minister and every MSP should think about Ollie when we vote tonight. Because Ollie is not a statistic, he was and is a precious member of a loving family and a community who continue to fundraise for team Ollie Bear Blantyre, raising vital funds for Wishaw's neonatal unit in his memory. I am so disappointed by the letter that I received from the minister last week in response to my request, our request for a pause and rethink. Jenny Mintle attempts to justify the downgrade by saying, quote, this will affect a very small number of families in Lanarkshire, end quote. Tell that to the Tierneys. Tell that to the McRitchies. Tell that to the Griffins. As we have heard from Rose's dad, my brilliant colleague Mark Griffin, this is a life-saving unit and the minister would do well to properly listen to families. I have listened, we have listened, listened to Lyn McRitchie, who believes her son, Innes, would not be alive today if he had been transferred to Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen. Innes is thriving today, thanks in large part to Wishaw's neonatal team. We have already heard from Jackie Baillie that the Government's downgrading plans are having an impact now. Several nurse recruits, who had accepted job offers, have now withdrawn following the publication of the appraisal report in July. NHS Lanarkshire needs support with recruitment and retention, especially in the aftermath of code black. Those plans will undermine that. Do ministers really intend to separate those families at a critical and traumatic time? How can this Government claim to be tackling inequality when it is downgrading a vital neonatal unit in one of Scotland's largest and most deprived health boards? The strength and scale of the community reaction to this proposal should give the Government pause for consideration on whether that is the best start. The Government has not properly included families or staff in Lanarkshire, but it is not too late. Start listening, fix this flawed process and stop the downgrade of Wishaw's neonatal unit. I welcome the opportunity to debate maternity services not once, but twice today. It shows how important this issue is right across Scotland. I hope that members speaking in the debate just now will stay for members' business so that we can continue this important conversation after decision time, because recent developments have rightly caused outrage across Lanarkshire in the surrounding areas. Local people have set up campaign groups to object to this ill-thought-out decision, and their message is simple. They do not want to see the neonatal department at University Hospital Wishaw downgraded. Why would they? That is the same department that won UK neonatal department of the year 2023. It makes no sense to me that this Government has decided to reward such an outstanding department by removing vital support that it provides to expectant mums and their newborn babies. However, the kick in the teeth—it has already been mentioned before—comes from the Government amendment, which has the cheek to congratulate them on their recent achievements and talk about being tone deaf. Over the past few weeks, I have been in touch with wonderful women who have shared their own stories about how much they value the neonatal department at University Hospital Wishaw. It is great to see some of them in the public gallery to watch this debate and the one that will follow. I would like to recognise and commend the efforts of Lynn McRitchie, who has been the driving force behind the campaign to stop the wishaw neonatal downgrade. She said recently during an interview that the decision is a real loss to parents but ultimately a real loss to babies who are born so prematurely and poorly. Lynn's petition has reached a whopping 12,337 signatures. If that does not send a strong message to this Government, I do not know what will. Among those who have contacted me are mydwifes, past and present, who cannot make any sense of the proposals outlined in the NHS redesign of maternity and neonatal document. They have told me that removing a vital service from the heart of the central belt of Scotland is not the answer and they are deeply concerned about the lack of evidence to back up the loss of a vital neonatal service. However, it is not just Wishaw general that will be impacted. Nine Wills and Dundee and Victoria hospital and Fife have also been selected as part of the downgrade proposals. Those are all areas with high levels of deprivation that need wraparound care to be as close to communities as possible. However, let's face it, this Government does not have the best track record when it comes to maternity services. You only need to speak to the ones in the highlands to know the consequences of removing maternity services. By the way, maternity services at Cathness general and Dr Gray's are still not fully operational. There has been no urgency from this Government to reopen them and this has undoubtedly put expected mums and their unborn babies at risk. Four minutes is not a lot of time and I'm pleased that we do have two debates on this issue. To conclude, I make a direct appeal to the minister now. Back the petition, listen to communities, listen to midwives, stop the downgrade of Wishaw neonatal. Alasdair Allan, to be followed by Gillian Mackay, Dr Allan, up to four minutes please. Presiding Officer, thank you. You might reasonably ask why a member from the islands is talking about neonatal care in Lanarkshire. However, as a member from other parts of the country, as is the right regularly mentioned, my own constituency, I feel I need to make no apology for straying occasionally across the Minch. I want to say before I say anything else however that I would recognise the authoritative and heartfelt contributions that have been made so far today by Mark Griffin and Keith Brown in both very fine speeches. The fact that the provision of neonatal care is an issue across Scotland and I'm acutely conscious not only of the excellent work that hospitals do in my own constituency but also of the many murders who for varying reasons already make very very long journeys away from their families to have their babies in larger hospitals in the mainland and have done that for many years. So I'm very happy to take this opportunity to acknowledge that University Hospital Wishaw has provided an extremely high standard of neonatal care. Countless parents are grateful to staff there for supporting them through some of the most challenging, joyful or heartbreaking moments of their lives and the neonatal unit at Wishaw will continue to provide this support and care for parents and babies in the future. The key change, as others have mentioned, is that the most premature or unwell babies will now be cared for at specialised intensive care neonatal units. As others have set out, this is a model of neonatal intensive care that was recommended by the best start report and was based, as we have heard, on clinical evidence that the care for babies at the highest risk is safest in units that can treat a higher number of patients. Meanwhile, neonatal units in Dundee, Glasgow, Cercodi and Kilmarnock, as well as at Wishaw, will continue to provide neonatal care for their populations. As a rural MSP, I am in favour of localised healthcare provision wherever this is possible. Where, however, the expert advice calls for specialist units, it is crucial that patients and their families are fully supported to receive care where it is clinically felt to be best appropriate. Ensuring the best possible outcomes for patients must be, as Keith Brown alluded to, the priority. The best start report, published in 2017, listed 76 recommendations as part of a five-year programme to improve maternal and neonatal services in Scotland. The Scottish Government accepted all those recommendations, including the establishment of a new model of neonatal intensive care. Within that model, the most pre-term and sickest babies, as we have heard, will receive specialist complex care in three main centres. That is based on evidence showing improved outcomes for babies within that kind of framework. I must make progress in the little time that I have. The Scottish Government has taken many significant steps to support, expect and new parents. Those have been alluded to today. Presiding Officer, quite rightly, I want to conclude by saying that the vast majority of the 5,000 babies who are admitted to neonatal care each year will continue to be treated in their local neonatal units and postnatal wards. I respectfully say that I am not sure that questioning the expert clinical advice of those involved in producing the best start report, which is effectively what is being done by some today, is a helpful way forward. Nor do I believe that making difficult, undeniably difficult decisions that the NHS has to make in the context of highly charged political debate is entirely helpful when compared to the other option, which is listening to clinical advice. I would like to be in my speech by expressing my sincere thanks to all of those who work in neonatal units across the country and who care for some of the sickest babies born in Scotland. I could also thank everyone who shared their own stories so bravely today. Neonatal care is understandably an extremely emotive subject and it is vital that the concerns of parents and staff about the changes under discussion are heard and responded to. That is why it is so important that we clearly set out what those changes mean and how people in NHS Lanarkshire will be affected and crucially what services will look like. University Hospital Wishaw is, of course, in my region and I have heard from people who worried about what any changes to neonatal care mean for staff, patients and their families. I am sure that many of us in the chamber have received correspondence from staff members who are concerned about those changes and why they are taking place. Alongside this debate today, it is vital that the Scottish Government engages with staff from University Hospital Wishaw and that a forum is provided for them to raise questions and have those answered. It is important to recognise that this proposal is a result of recommendations from expert clinicians. The best start report recommended a new model of neonatal service provision, which suggests that care for the smallest and sickest babies is consolidated to deliver the best possible outcomes. Meghan Gallagher For giving way, does the member agree that the forum perhaps should have happened before the decision was taken? That has led to many families being exceptionally concerned about what is happening because they have not been involved in this process whatsoever. I agree that all information that can be shared ahead of decisions being made is vital to ensure that we bring communities along with those decisions and that includes staff and all clinicians working within those units. The best start report recommended a new model of neonatal service provision, which suggests that care for the smallest and sickest babies is consolidated to deliver the best possible outcomes. That change is part of that new model. That was produced in conjunction with clinicians. I am really sorry, but I need to make some progress. I am genuinely sorry, Ms Bailey. That was produced in conjunction with clinicians and it is worth stating that the recommendations to the new neonatal model of care are underpinned by strong outcomes at population outcomes for the most premature and sickest babies are improved by delivering and care in units that are looking after a high number of those babies, as we have heard from other people. It is important to stress that that will result, apologies. Outcomes for very low birth weight babies are better when they are delivered and treated in neonatal intensive care units with full support services and experienced staff. Therefore, babies born at less than 27 weeks, lighter than 800 grams, or who need complex life support, will receive specialist complex care in those units. It is important to stress that, while that will result in care for the smallest and sickest babies being delivered in a smaller number of specialist centres, no units will close as a result, and universal hospital wish-off will continue to provide excellent care for the majority of babies that require treatment in a neonatal unit. Local neonatal units will continue to provide care and babies will also be returned to the local area as soon as they are well enough. That is certainly not to dismiss, however, how distressing it can be for parents whose babies are treated out with their local area and what will already be a very emotional time. I absolutely recognise the issues raised by Mark Griffin among others about the issues of a baby being in one health board and the family in another. We need to make sure that families have all the support that they can and that as many of those issues are taken care of as possible. It is vital that babies receive the best care available, but it is equally vital that we support parents and carers. I would be grateful if the minister could advise what emotional support is available to families whose babies are being treated out with their local health board. To conclude, the changes that are being made to the smallest and sickest babies can receive the best neonatal care possible and are, as a result of expert advice. There is a sign of Scotland's improving neonatal healthcare, but it is so important that we take people with us and that we continue a dialogue with worried staff, parents and carers who also just want to see the best for their babies. I thank the Labour Party for using some of their debating time for such an important topic, and I should declare from the outset that I do have a daughter who is a midwife in the Scottish NHS. My youngest was born at Wishaw, as was my eldest grandson. It is a timely debate for me because recently, along with my colleague Callum Monhan, I was invited by Ersin Arn NHS maternity unit into the hospital to discuss issues that are affecting the care that they give. A very unusual step I would suggest to the Deputy Presiding Officer, because it is usually we politicians who are requesting their time, and perhaps that speaks to the real concern that is being felt across Midwifery in Scotland. In that meeting, I committed to bringing their points to the chamber, and that is why I am grateful to have this opportunity. That is what they say politics aside. There is a shortage of staff. There is a workforce planning problem. There is a problem around retention and recruitment. I heart back to when my daughter applied to be a midwife, and there were 43 places available and over 400 applications. We now have a situation where, to fill those places, they are now going through clearance. Retention and recruitment is one of the major problems that is leading to what is happening at Wishaw. One of the issues raised by the group was the need to accept that, for medical and midwifery workforce, there is increasingly medical complexities for the women using the service. Midwifery is a specialist role that has expanded over the last 10 years, and without that recognition of increase in their responsibilities, the medical requirement for midwives goes way beyond what we traditionally recognise as midwifery, and that change is rapid, and the level of medical interventions that we expect from them continues to grow. Professional staff, including midwives, now have degrees and complete afflying staff support practice here. That requires staff not only to deliver a mentoring programme for those about to qualify, but also must be able to oversee new staffs. A reduction in staff impacts the ability to train new staff. They want support for early career midwives so that they can see opportunities for consolidation and development within maternity services, so they do not have to leave the service to better their incomes or development potential. That development stops after just a few years, and that again speaks to retention of staff. They will not be able to spend time and support women and families in an individual and holistic way, such as smoking cessation, diabetes prevention and management, how to help women to keep well in pregnancy, both physically and mentally, preventative health, which we talk about a lot in here, but we do not deliver the tools for our healthcare workers. That retention is a huge issue. Pressures of the job increase responsibility without the support and environment to match that responsibility. They want routes to training and development that open university opportunities to allow them to grow their own staff, and that coupled with an issue that I have raised many times, that digital platform investment that collaborates with interfaces, it has to be the starting point to delivering a more efficient NHS. Now I will not go through half the list, but I would like to mention the practicalities that there is. Delivery of maternity and community sessions in our rural areas, which was mentioned earlier on in this debate, is impacted by the move to electric vehicles without the infrastructure to support those electric vehicles. That is a definite cart before the horse scenario. Finally, if I may, Deputy Presiding Officer, I am asking the Scottish Government to stop delivering changes in process or guidance to health boards on a Friday evening at 5 o'clock, with little or no time to evaluate or implement those changes. Surely it is not too much to ask that staff need a vision timeline with dialogue, including evaluation and matters that impact healthcare. It seems to me that the Scottish Government does not need to recognise that healthcare staff work shifts and will not necessarily be in the building when directives arrive at short notice. Deputy Presiding Officer, those are just a snapshot of issues raised by those in the front line. There are real practical changes that can be made that will allow our front line staff to do the job that they love in a manner composite with their commitment. It is time that the Scottish Government considered the practical impact of their interventions that they impose on our midlifes. The Scottish Government needs to take time to speak with those in the front line, deliver a working environment that encourages and supports our midlifes to stay in the service. I thank Jackie Baillie for bringing this speech to Parliament today. Given the clearly personal and important contributions that are made by members around this debate, I am sorely disappointed that more time was not given to this emotive debate. My constituency is covered by services provided by University Hospital Wishaw, and I have had a few, not many, constituents getting in touch, keen to better understand why this decision has been taken. The best start report recommended a new model of neonatal intensive care and is based on evidence that care for babies at highest risk is safest in units that can treat a high volume of patients. It needs to be said again that no neonatal units will close. The new model of neonatal services will be redesigned to accommodate the current levels of demand, with a smaller number of intensive care neonatal units supported by local neonatal and special care units. The best start report begins with, wherever women and babies live in Scotland and whatever their circumstances, all women should have a positive experience of maternity and neonatal care, which is focused on them and takes account of their individual needs and preferences. Surely that is something that we can all agree on. This new refresh model of maternity and neonatal care is based on the current available evidence, best practice and feedback from families and front-line staff to design and further improve existing services. Clearly, it is a major decision, but I do not believe for a second that it has been taken lightly. Evidence tells us that long-term health outcomes will improve for babies if cared for in higher volume units. There are approximately 50,000 births a year in Scotland of those 5,000 are admitted to neonatal care. The majority of those babies will continue to be delivered in local neonatal units and postnatal wards. Around 110 to 130 babies are born under 27 weeks each year, and that change will affect around 50 to 60 of those babies. When they are well enough, they will be moved to their local neonatal unit for further care. When news of the exchanges broke, my first thoughts were how will that affect my constituents? Will they have to travel further? What support will be in place for families during what is hugely testing and emotional time for them? I was pleased to have clarity that special care services will be relocated to Queen Elizabeth hospital. From my office in the centre of East Kilbride, it is 14 miles, and it will take around 27 minutes to get to the Queen Elizabeth. Currently, it is 11.6 miles to University Hospital Wishaw and takes 29 minutes. Certainly for the people of East Kilbride, the travel times are negligible. The young patient's family fund launched in summer 2021 and enables families to claim financial assistance to support them during their baby's neonatal stay. That focus is obviously on the health and wellbeing of their child and not worry about the financial costs that they may face, be it for travel, assistance towards accommodation costs or for food. Local neonatal units, including Wishaw, will continue to provide care to those babies who need it, including a level of neonatal intensive care. The decision to move to three national neonatal intensive care units has been made in line with strong evidence and input from expert clinicians who know specialist care will deliver improved outcomes for the smallest and sickest babies born in Scotland. Every one of us here today is united where we absolutely want what is best for the smallest and sickest babies. We now move to closing point of order from Monica Lennon. Thank you. I wonder if the president can provide some advice. The member, Collette Stevenson, is very concerned that Scottish Labour has not given enough time to this subject today. The Scottish Government has given zero time. How could we go about getting a debate in government time to give Collette Stevens and others to make full on contributions? I thank Monica Lennon for that point. I think she's been in this institution long enough to know that that is a matter for the bureau. I know that she will speak to her business manager who I'm sure will be able to make that point. We now move to the closing speeches. I call Tess White. It's clear today who and who does not understand the decision to downgrade Wish on Neonatal unit. We can quite clearly see today who's got their hands over their ears and who really is not interested. It's quite clear that people watching this in the gallery will see that. For families across Lanarkshire, the staff have supported them when emotions are at their most raw and stress runs especially high. Neonatal units care for the most vulnerable babies, but they see parents at their most vulnerable too. It's no wonder that 12,337 people have signed Lynn McCritchie's petition and the community feels blindsided by another top-down decision from this tinneared SNP Government. In the north of Scotland, we are all too familiar with the centralisation of NHS services under successive SNP health secretaries. Dr Gilhane said this afternoon that Scotland is so much more than three cities. The downgrading of Dr Gray's maternity services in NHS Grampian due to staff shortages has been disastrous for pregnant women. They have been forced to travel miles from Aberdeen or in Venice to deliver their babies away from their homes and their support systems, and there are harrowing stories of women having to deliver their babies on the side of the A96. It's shocking. The Scottish Conservatives have campaigned for these services to be reinstated, and thankfully they will be. By the time the consultant-led maternity unit at Dr Gray's is restored, services will have been downgraded for at least eight years. Think of the impact on women and their families in that time. Under the new model of neonatal services, newborn babies who need the intervention of a specialist NICU will be transferred miles away from Wishaw General. For parents, caring for a premature or seriously ill baby in hospital takes round the clock. It can take weeks, even months of highly specialised care. Being close to home isn't a silver lining, it's a lifeline. It means being able to care for siblings and still do the school run. It means being close to friends and family who can lend a helping hand. Dr Sandesh Gulhane highlighted the alarming shortage of neonatal nursing staff, meaning that neonatal intensive care agency nurses are being brought up from London to Scotland to cover shifts. Once again, NHS services are suffering because the SNP has botched workforce planning. Monica Lennon talked about a ridiculous situation, praising the SNP, praising a service in one breath but downgrading it in another. She said it was absurd, out of touch and dangerous. She requested for a pause and a rethink. She asked for the SNP Green Government to properly listen to families. Jackie Baillie talked about no consultation with the stakeholders. Like her, we are baffled that the SNP Green Government has not listened to the community. Megan Gallagher talked about an outrage of the community that they have not been listened to. She talked about the fact that we should, General, is the UK neonatal unit of the year. She said it was a kick in the teeth, an example that the SNP Green Government are tone deaf and midwife, she said, can't make any sense of it. To hear also again and to know that the same will be happening elsewhere across Scotland and in my own region, nine wells. The only empathy shown today from the SNP Green Government was Gillian Mackay, but will she please listen to the women and to the families on behalf of the Green SNP Government and please ask them to pause this decision because it's a terrible decision and will it have disastrous implications. This SNP Green Government is clearly intent on progressing these plans for neonatal care, despite the strength of feeling being shown locally. We're all concerned about the impact of the decision making on women who need to be at the centre of decision making around the future of maternity and neonatal care. The SNP has got it so wrong before for the sake of patients and staff that it cannot afford to do so again. Also, my thanks to all the members who have taken part in today's debate. I appreciate some of the contributions that will have been emotional and difficult, but I very much appreciate that honesty. I think I need to just set out that the Government has acted on expert clinical advice, and this is where the smallest and sickest babies will get the best treatment and therefore the better chances of survival. As I've outlined, the evidence is clear that the chances of survival are better for the highest-risk babies when they are cared for by clinicians who see more of those babies and with closer access to specialist support services. Maintaining high standards of neonatal care is an on-going challenge. I do not accept, based on the figures that I read out published by the Scottish Government, that whishaw are seeing enough babies. Will she, whilst I have the microphone, publish the evidence so that everybody can see it? Meet with the clinicians at whishaw, because they have not been listened to, and meet with the families. I need to stick with the expert clinical advice that we have received. It is important that we ensure that all babies born in Scotland receive the best and most up-to-date care. There are a wide range of different needs associated with the provision of neonatal care, ranging from routine baby care at home or in a midwife birthing unit to the most highly specialist neonatal intensive care. Evidence shows that the chance of survival for these very small numbers of the smallest and sickest babies is improved when they are born and cared for in a specialist unit. This model is supported by a range of stake hoardlers and clinicians, including Bliss, the leading charity for babies born premature or sick, who recognise that the new model of care is based on strong evidence and will improve the safety of services for the smallest and sickest babies. Best start has also ensured that keeping families together is at its core. As part of that, we have increased access to psychological support for parents on neonatal units. I also want to commend the great work that our leading charities do in providing support for families with babies in neonatal care, including Bliss. In addition, we are also rolling out transitional care across Scotland with all units on track to have this in place in the next year. The framework for practice criteria to define levels of neonatal care, including repatriation with NHS Scotland, which was published on the same day as this announcement and describes the new model of care, also provides a level of flexibility that can be agreed based on local skills and experience. There has been reference to Dr Gray's maternity hospital, which I visited this summer. I am sorry, I want to continue. This afternoon, I want to be clear that these are very different sets of circumstances. As has been said on many previous occasions in this chamber, this Government is committed to providing care as close to home as possible. That includes the return of consultant-led maternity services to Dr Gray's in a safe and sustainable way. That has been moving on, and I have been very clear with my directions to both NHS Grampian and NHS Highland. In reference to the Lanarkshire petition that has been highlighted today, I really appreciate that local people will have concerns about the announced changes. I would like to clarify again that those changes will affect a small number of families in Lanarkshire. For those families who have the very smallest and sickest babies, I would like to reassure them that this is based on evidence that this change will improve the chances of better life chances of survival for those babies. I know that parents would want to act on that. There has been a lot of discussion around the young payment family fund and the important support that that gives families to ensure that they can spend their right time with their parents in assistance, with travel subsistence and overnight accommodation. Also raised today has been the options appraisal report from the perinatal subgroup. Skills maintenance is a key concern for those units no longer categorised as NICU. Small and sick babies will continue to be delivered unexpectedly out with NICU, and some babies in local neonatal units and special care units will deteriorate in smaller units and then need stabilisation and transfer, so those skills need to be maintained. All local neonatal units will continue to deliver intensive care and care for babies from 27 weeks that need stabilisation and treatment, so both nursing staff and medical staff will continue to have experience in delivering those aspects of intensive care. The Scottish Government will work with the Scottish Perinatal Network and NHS Education for Scotland to take forward a number of actions to ensure that appropriate learning and development opportunities are available for staff impacted on the changes. Modelling work is currently being commissioned by the Scottish Government to inform capacity requirements that work is expected to conclude by the end of this year. In the meantime, discussions are underway in the regional forum to prepare and plan for the changes, which will be further informed by the modelling. As I said in my opening speech, there will be focus groups within NHS Lanarkshire. In addition, we will continue to provide funding to these health boards to help transition to the new model. Lastly, Presiding Officer, I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to speak with us to inform our picture of what more needs to be done to reassure both parents and the staff within our neonatal community. I would like to thank all those who have worked with us to look at how we can best deliver the changes that are recommended by the best start report. Their experience is invaluable in informing our approach to date. It will continue to be invaluable as we take forward our work, ensuring that this Government does as much as we possibly can to increase the chances of survival of those very special babies. I am pleased to be closing on behalf of Scottish Labour this evening. In a debate, we have brought to the chamber to ensure that the voices of our communities are heard, loud and clear. That is reckless decision making by this Government. Has the minister asked a single question on the process around the research? Has the minister asked why NHS Lanarkshire was not involved in that process throughout? I often question the political decision making of this Government. Its political priorities and decision making are often misplaced, which lead to significant errors in policy for which it has full control of. We have heard today that the downgrading of neonatal services in University Hospital Wishaw is one of its significant errors to date. We have heard that this is an award-winning neonatal unit, situated in an area of high deprivation, serving a population to which it means a great deal. We have heard today from Jackie Baillie that, in a time when staffing levels are actually presented as a danger from our trade unions, we have heard that this unit retains its staff and they are working in an important area that they want to continue to contribute in. I thank Carol Malkin for taking the intervention, because the minister was not prepared to. The minister would agree with me that we are talking at Wishaw about the best neonatal team in the United Kingdom, a fact that the minister did not seem to acknowledge. Would she agree with me that, because of that fact and the fact that there was no Lanarkshire involvement in the decision that it should be paused? I absolutely agree with the member's point, and I want to just come back to what my colleague Monica Lennon said. It makes no sense at all. This is a service being downgraded that will result in newborn babies requiring specialist care being transferred to one of three specialist neonatal units across Scotland when they would actually be going to the best neonatal unit that we have, an award-winning neonatal unit. My colleague Mark Griffin gave us an insight to what it is like, but one of the key points that he mentioned is that this happens to families every other week. On behalf of my party, I have to say that we support the members in the gallery and the campaigners on this issue. I hope that I can call on some of the backbenchers from the Government, both the Greens and the SNP backbenchers, particularly those who represent the area, to call on the Government to pause this, to look at the evidence, to have some transparency about what has actually happened. It is disappointing that members who represent constituents in that area do not seek to make sure that the evidence is open and out and available for staff and families to look at. We are told time and time again that health services are best delivered when they are delivered locally, within communities and even more so in our communities where there is already a specific lack of services or amenities or indeed high levels of deprivation. Therefore, begs the question, what is the Government thinking and why is it not reversing that decision? The people of Lanarkshire and the areas served by this unit deserve so much better. I can say categorically that we will continue to fight this. We need to make sure that these communities are heard. It is disappointing as usual to read the SNP's amendment to today's motion. It yet again is about the SNP. It fails to recognise the importance of this issue and the importance to its community, and it fails to mention any of the concerns that those families and communities have brought. The minister needs to meet staff, consultants and families from that area. Indeed, the minister perhaps needs to take some interventions from MSPs, particularly those MSPs who represent that area. Despite what Collette Stevens' contribution indicated, one family with a newborn being forced to travel miles for care is one too many when they could get expert support in their own area. We have heard about the complications around stress about the costs and about the way in which families will feel after the events, and we must take that into consideration and not dismiss it. Members have outlined fully why and how they support the unit and the risk that is posed to premature babies if that change is made. We do not need to change things and have one thing instead of the other. We can have both, we can have both, and that is clear from this debate. Publish the evidence, make it transparent, make sure that we know what is actually happening. The expertise and these words is second to none, the community links are strong and the trust placed in the service provided at the highest level. It would be a real mistake to put any of this at risk. In closing, I ask again for the minister to make sure that she fully consults all of the population of the area, fully consults with the MSPs in the area and makes all the evidence transparent to us in the chamber. That concludes the debate on protecting specialist neonatal services in Lanarkshire, and it is now time to move on to the next item of business, which is consideration of business motion 10522, in the name of George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau, setting out a business programme. I call on George Adam to move the motion. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and moved. Thank you, minister. No member has asked to speak on the motion, therefore the question is that motion 10522 be agreed. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed. The next item of business is consideration of parliamentary bureau motion 10523 on approval of an SSI, and I ask George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau to move the motion. I rise to speak against the approval of this SSI. The decision to implement rent controls was taken by Parliament under emergency Covid-19 legislative measures. Since the policy was implemented, we are now seeing record high rents for new tenancies in Scotland, increasing at the highest rate anywhere in the UK, an average of 12.7 per cent increase in the year to July. Asking rents in Edinburgh and Glasgow have risen a rate of 15.5 and 13.7 per cent in just one year, the highest rate and increase in any UK cities. We have warned SNP and Green ministers that new renters across Scotland will see rents increase at this alarming rate. City Let's Managing Director Thomas Ashtame, for example, has said that we are living through unique times for the Scottish private rented sector. Never before have we recorded such steep and sustained annual price appreciation across a single region, never mind across a country as a whole. This vicious cycle of low supply leading to higher rents for new tenancies and less movement within the sector seems to have been set now in motion as the rent gap between open and closed markets grows. He goes on to say that pressures on would-be are also now seeing people, landlords, leaving the market and pressures on would-be property buyers. It's clear that we have a difficult path now to achieving balance. SNP Green ministers do not seem to understand how the rent control policy is now implementing on the housing market in Scotland, especially in our cities. This policy has been deeply damaging for the private rented market with many by-to-let developments, for example, now put on hold or abandoned. Looking at the social rented sector, we are also seeing the rewriting of their business plans and the lowest levels of social rental completions that we have seen for many decades. The Scottish Government therefore needs to recognise that the continuation of this policy will have counterproductive outcomes for many and will now directly lead to significant rent increases for everyone in Scotland in the future. As such, we will not support this latest extension at decision time. I may have misheard Miles Briggs. I think that he said that the measures were brought in in relation to coronavirus emergency legislation. What we are talking about today, of course, is under the auspices of the cost of living emergency legislation. We introduced that cost of living tenant protection act in 2022 to support tenants at a time of unprecedented financial pressure, acting to stabilise housing costs, helping them to stay in their homes and reducing the impact of eviction. Since its introduction in October last year, the act has provided important additional protection for tenants. In June this year, we published a statement of reasons for the second proposed extension of the emergency act, setting out the intention for the measures in the act to be extended for further and final six months running to the end of March 2024. Last week, I had the opportunity to provide further information to the local government housing and planning committee about that. While some economic indicators have changed for the better, the statement of reasons provides updated data and economic analysis, which shows that the challenging economic position has not yet changed fundamentally. Many households on low and modest incomes continue to feel the strain of cost of living pressures. For that reason, I am seeking to extend part 1 of the emergency act in its current form until 31 March 2024 at the latest. I also recognise that some landlords are impacted by rising costs, and that is why there continues to be a safeguard in place that allows landlords to apply for approval of an increase of up to 6 per cent in specific circumstances. Again, in response to Mr Briggs, it is worth highlighting that that applies to the private rented sector, and in relation to the social rented sector, a voluntary agreement was reached for the sector to approve an alternative way forward. Is there time to give way to Mr Briggs? I do not know whether the minister is coming on to this point, but the real concern within the sector is now with regard to new entrants and the significant increases that we are seeing. Does he recognise that this policy in his own community in Glasgow is now seeing one of the highest increases in rents for new entrants at 13.7 per cent, a direct result of this policy? I was about to come on to precisely this point. In proposing the extension, of course, we have taken into account what is happening in the wider housing market as a whole. At present, the number of registered landlords has remained stable. Some data sources show that rents for newly advertised properties are rising significantly in some parts of Scotland. That mirrors rates in comparable cities in the rest of the UK. Not just cities like London, with increases of 13.5 per cent, London has a very overheated property market, but also Southampton, 10.7 per cent, Manchester, 13 per cent. While tenants in the rest of the UK have faced the double hit of at times double digit rent rises within and between tenants, tenants in Scotland have only faced the latter. It was not possible to address the inter-tenancy rent increases using this emergency legislation, but those increases in fact reinforce the need for an effective national system of long-term rent control in Scotland. A thriving, well-regulated private rented sector is good for tenants as well as landlords, and well-regulated markets can and do attract investment that support good quality affordable homes. We see that in other countries where rent control is part of the operation of the private rented sector. Seeking to extend part 1 of the act, I will continue to ensure that the provisions do not remain in force for longer than is necessary in connection with the cost crisis, and I will keep the measures under review as to their on-going necessity and proportionality, and I will continue to advise Parliament through a regular report the next of which is due on October 14. The question on this motion will be put at decision time, and the next item of business is consideration of parliamentary bureau motion 10524 on membership of European bodies. I ask George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau to move the motion. Thank you minister, and the question on this motion will be put at decision time, and there are eight questions to be put as a result of today's business, and the first is the amendment 10498.2, in the name of Lorna Slater, which seeks to amend motion 10498 in the name of Rhoda Grant on protecting Scotland's nature, be agreed. Are we all agreed? The Parliament is not agreed, therefore will move to a vote, and there will be a short suspension to allow members to access digital voting.